This weekend, yet another Regional Championship took place. As expected, Izzet Prowess made up a large percentage of the metagame, but that was hardly the talk of the tournament. Instead, that honor belongs to a sweet Rakdos Midrange deck that made it all the way to the finals.
This shell uses a bunch of cards that haven’t made a big impact in Standard otherwise. There are some very impressive synergies going on. If you’ve been waiting for Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate to make a big splash in Constructed, the wait is over.
Building Around Alesha
This Rakdos deck, unlike other black midrange decks we’ve seen in Standard over the past month, is quite aggressively slanted and plays tons of Creatures. It’s capable of winning long and grindy games, but most of that comes from some assertive Creatures that simultaneously help you generate lots of value.
In the value department, no Creature is more important than Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate. Alesha is a really interesting card. On turn three, the goal is to play Alesha after having already attacked with a different threat. From there, you can return a creature with mana value two or less from your graveyard to play.
On future turns, you can start attacking with Alesha, growing the powerful legend and resurrecting even bigger Creatures. However, given Alesha’s vulnerability to removal spells, you really want to get value right away, and that requires some set up. You first need a Creature in play already to attack with, and you also need a Creature in your graveyard to bring back.
Fortunately, this deck utilizes a high density of cheap Creatures, many of which also let you discard other Creatures in some form or fashion. Take Fear of Missing Out, for example. Fear of Missing Out is a turn two play that lets you discard another two-drop when it enters. It has three toughness, so it’s a bit tough for the red aggro decks to kill early.
Inti, Seneschal of the Sun is another important piece of the puzzle. Inti is a bit easier for your opponents to kill on sight, but the upside is enormous if Inti sticks around. Not only does Inti grow as an attacker and act as a discard outlet, but it also rewards you for discarding cards by exiling cards from the top of your library and letting you play them until end of turn.
If Inti and Alesha ever both live long term, you’ll start to run away with the game quickly. Attacking with Alesha will also trigger Inti, so Alesha will get two +1/+1 counters if you choose. Soon enough, you’ll start returning bigger threats like Mishra, Claimed by Gix or even Trumpeting Carnosaur. The world is your oyster as long as Alesha sticks around.
Other Synergies
Perhaps the coolest synergy this deck utilizes, though, lies with Alesha and Phyrexian Dragon Engine. Phyrexian Dragon Engine is a rather unimpressive card on its own. Paying three mana for a 2/2 with no enters-the-battlefield effect is pretty mediocre in a removal-heavy environment. You do get a reward if you Unearth Phyrexian Dragon Engine, but paying five mana to do so is also steep.
Luckily, Alesha gives you the opportunity to reanimate Phyrexian Dragon Engine for free on your end step. Between Inti, Fear of Missing Out, Deep-Cavern Bat, Tinybones, the Pickpocket, and some efficient removal spells like Torch the Tower, this deck’s curve is very low for the most part. By the time you bring back Phyrexian Dragon Engine, you won’t need to discard many cards at all to get your bonus.
You even have the potential of melding Phyrexian Dragon Engine and Mishra, Claimed by Gix. If you manage to pull this off, you’ll gain an enormous and likely insurmountable advantage.
Another cool play pattern this deck has access to is to give Alesha Haste and a big power boost with Wild Ride. Wild Ride is only a one-of here, as it doesn’t exactly fit too well with the rest of the deck’s gameplan. That being said, enabling a big attack out of nowhere and then bringing back Trumpeting Carnosaur may steal games right away.
Beating the Top Deck
As you can tell, this archetype relies on Alesha for many of its strong synergies. Still, curving Tinybones into Deep-Cavern Bat and playing a fair game is totally reasonable. Making it to the finals of a 200+ player event is no easy feat, especially with a sweet brew.
What’s even more impressive, though, is the fact that the deck’s pilot did so while facing Izzet Prowess five out of eight round in the Swiss. Having at least a decent Izzet Prowess matchup is crucial in Standard right now, and this deck goes above and beyond.
There’s enough removal present to hold Slickshot Show-Off in check, especially in sideboard games. Both Duress and Deep-Cavern Bat do a good job clearing a path for Alesha or Inti to start taking over the game.
In games two and three, Brotherhood’s End serves as an excellent tool versus Cori-Steel Cutter. As such, your matchup against Izzet Prowess is not bad at all. Meanwhile, your array of discard spells paired with your fast clock makes your Jeskai control and Azorius Omniscience combo matchups fine as well.
There’s a good chance this Rakdos midrange shell gains some extra traction moving forward following this dominant performance. There’s plenty of room to innovate and explore within the Alesha shell, and we’re excited to see where the format goes from here.